Offshore oil and gas drilling and production platforms are typically supported upon a network of tubular piles. Each of the tubular piles will typically have an upper end that supports the platform structure and lower end driven to a desired depth below the water bottom frequently called tire mudline. When oil and gas drilling and production activities cease and the platforms are no longer needed, regulations may require that the drilling and production platforms be removed and the tubular piles supporting the platforms to be cut at a specified vertical position or depth below the mudline. Each pile is typically cut with an internal cutter inserted into the tubular pile. This internal cutter allows the pile to be severed and removed without having to dig into the surface mud to facilitate the pile cutting.
Because the piles may be bent, damaged, or driven at an angle it may be difficult to determine the vertical position or depth below the mudline where a cut is to be made or hamper the cutting process because of difficulty in locating and securely positioning a cutter to make a cut on the pile. Other conditions such as impaired visibility due to muddy or murky seawater may hamper or prolong the cutting process by making it difficult, if not impossible, to determine if a cut is being accurately made in a manner sufficient to sever the pile. The cutters now utilized in the industry do not adequately address these difficulties.